Citation: Pavlícková, M.; Mojžišová,

A.; Pócsová, J. Hoshin Kanri Process:

A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

on the Connection of Theory and

Practice. Processes 2022, 10, 1854.

https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10091854

Academic Editors: Alina Pyka-Pajak,

Francesca Raganati, Barbara Dolinska

and Federica Raganati

Received: 24 August 2022

Accepted: 9 September 2022

Published: 14 September 2022

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processes

Review

Hoshin Kanri Process: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis onthe Connection of Theory and PracticeMarcela Pavlícková * , Andrea Mojžišová and Jana Pócsová

Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, 042 00 Košice, Slovakia* Correspondence: marcela.pavlickova@tuke.sk; Tel.: +421-55-602-5173

Abstract: The review assesses the Hoshin Kanri process from the point of view of theory and practiceimplementations in different organizations. There are several adaptations of Hoshin Kanri and a widerange of tools used in each organization. This review aims to determine which and how companieshave implemented the afore-mentioned methodology into their strategic management. The PRISMAstatement was the framework for the present research. The structure for this study was obtainedthrough a review of articles from two of the most important databases (Scopus and Web of Science).The review focuses on three parts: the theoretical basis of the methodology, a bibliometric overviewof the selected articles, and practical insight into the implementation of Hoshin Kanri within thecase-study organizations. Since the study’s purpose is to determine not only the companies whereHoshin Kanri was implemented but also the reasons and results of those implementations, therefore,26 journal articles covering detailed implementations were selected.

Keywords: Hoshin Kanri; Hoshin Planning; implementation; strategic management; process; PRISMA

1. Introduction

Hoshin Kanri [1] is a process of deploying the goals and initiatives of top-level corpo-rate management down to the lowest levels of the corporate hierarchy. Its purpose is tomanage and achieve significant improvements in the performance of companies. HoshinKanri includes the management division into three- to five-year goals with realizable partsand actions for different levels and departments of the organization. It helps to build focus,engagement, and continuous improvement in the areas identified as the most important.

Several Hoshin Kanri adaptations have aligned the technique with Western thinkingand management approaches. For example, Policy deployment at AT&T and Lucent Tech-nologies, Control for Results at Xerox, Goal Deployment at Exxon Chemical, Policy Managementat Florida Power and Light, Hoshin Planning at Hewlett-Packard, and Management by policyat Texas Instruments. Several authors have also referred to Hoshin Kanri by differentnames: Policy control, Target and means deployment, Policy management, Providing direction,Direction management, and Strategy deployment [2–4].

Many organizations have used the Hoshin Kanri methodology to align the work andactivities of employees to achieve strategic goals.

At the beginning of this review, the extent of the previous analysis of this area bybibliometrics or systematic review was researched. No systematic review or bibliometricsanalysis of Hoshin Kanri was found in Scopus or Web of Science databases (WoS). However,there were six reviews in the databases.

In his review, Soltero presented “how Hoshin Kanri can improve an organization’soverall performance” [5]. Tennant and Roberts introduced Hoshin Kanri as a techniquefor strategic quality management [2]. Witcher presented the findings from the project onthe use of Hoshin Kanri in the UK. The study found Hoshin Kanri “to be, in essence, apolicy-led organizing framework for managing” [6].

Processes 2022, 10, 1854. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10091854 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes

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Dias and Tenara presented a review oriented toward integrating a balanced scorecardand Hoshin Kanri [7]. This article discussed six integrated models found during theliterature review. The author stated: “the different applications of each methodology invarious organizations and different contexts have shown some weaknesses”. Therefore,they presented a new framework, which combined the best of each approach. In thisframework, Hoshin Kanri was integrated to deploy and implement the strategy in dailyactivities. This review did not compare the results of implementations in companies.

An interesting contribution in this area is the article by Silveira et al., who presentedthe evaluation results of the Hoshin Kanri guidelines [8]. The basis was a model obtainedthrough a literature review, completed through a systematic process of expert interviews.The authors presented a set of twenty guidelines for implementing Hoshin Kanri in differenttypes of organizations.

The literature has focused more on the Hoshin Kanri methodology and less on theimplementation process. A few practical pieces of evidence exist on how to successfullyintroduce Hoshin Kanri, but the data are often only conceptual and theoretical. Authorscompare the implemented models and looked for an ideal model for implementation.Hoshin Kanri should be solved in a wide-ranging organizational system.

The Hoshin Kanri methodology is not used to manage organizations in our region(The Visegrád group—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). Therefore, theaim of this review is to find out in what types of companies the methodology has beenimplemented and the results of those implementations. This information was obtainedthrough a review of articles from two of the most important databases (Scopus and WoS).As the study wanted to determine not only the companies implementing Hoshin Kanribut also the reasons and results of those implementations, only journal articles coveringdetailed studies were selected. Other types of publications were excluded.

This review provides bibliometrics analysis and quantitative analysis of the contentof the found articles. Ten research questions that were easily readable and understoodwere formulated to our detection code in this review. From our point of view, the researchquestions serve as a summary of our proposed classification.

The bibliometric analysis is intended to answer the following research questions:RQ1: Which journals have published Hoshin Kanri’s studies?RQ2: What are the most cited articles? Who are the most productive authors?RQ3: What are the most used keywords? What are the relationships between keywords?The qualitative approach is used to look for answers to the following research questions:

• Research questions regarding the found articles:

RQ4: How many companies/organizations is research focused on?

• Research questions regarding the case of companies/organizations:

RQ5: What types of companies/organizations are studies published about?RQ6: Where are the case companies/organizations located?RQ7: From where comes the top management in the case-study companies/organizations?RQ8: Do the case-study companies/organizations have previous experience with Hoshin

Kanri? If they are not experienced, which ones are introducing the Hoshin Kanri process?

• Research questions regarding the Hoshin Kanri process in the case of companies/organizations:

RQ9: What is the key reason for the research or implementation of the Hoshin Kanri process?RQ10: What different quality tools are used? What experiences are published about

Hoshin Kanri implementation in the found articles?

2. Hoshin Kanri

Hoshin Kanri is a strategic management system developed in Japan as a Managementby Objectives (MbO) concept in the 1960s. It was seen as more flexible in dealing withquickly changing economic situations. The term is derived from four Chinese characters,“Ho“ (method) and “Shin“ (shiny metal showing direction), “Kan“ (into control or chan-neling), and “Ri“ (reason or logic), and can be translated as a methodology for setting the

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strategic direction [9,10]. Although the translation of the Hoshin Kanri involves ten steps,authors have adapted the previous Western interpretation and used their own applicationexperience to create a six-level framework: five-year vision, annual plan, deployment,implementation, monthly review, and annual review [11].

Hoshin Kanri began in Japan between 1950 and 1960. After 1970, Hoshin Kanri waswidely used in the Japanese industry and quickly became one of the main elements inmanagement. It reached Western organizations after 1980 when managerial skills weretransferred from Japan. Gradually, there has been an interest in implementing HoshinKanri among Western experts, managers, and consultants.

Table 1 summarizes the historical background of Hoshin Kanri [1,3,9,12,13].

Table 1. History and background of Hoshin Kanri.

Leader Activity

Gen. D. Mac Arthur (1945) Helped Japan rebuild its economy and infrastructure afterWWII, called on many American experts to help

H. Sarasohn (1946)Headed the Civil Communication Section (CCS), established

an information and education center, worked with theJapanese Union of Scientist and Engineers (JUSE)

W. A. Shewhart (1950) Training Japanese managers and engineers in themanagement techniques of Statistical Quality Control (SQC)

W. E. Deming (1950)Began training hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholarson three areas: PDCA cycle, Causes of variation, and Process

control through the use of Control charts

J. M. Juran (1954)Lecture on management’s responsibility to lead qualityimprovement efforts. A breakthrough in the qualitative

maturity of Japan

P. Drucker (1954) Published a book in Japanese: The Practice of management,which described the concepts of Management by Objectives (MBO)

K. Ishikawa (1957) Published a paper stressing the importance of managementand operational policies

J. M. Juran (1960)By the visit in Japan emphasizing the planning techniquesused by Deming Prize winning companies. The techniques

described were given the name Hoshin Kanri

Japan (1975) Hoshin Kanri was widely accepted in Japan

USA (1980) Hoshin planning began to creep into the USA: Xerox, HP,Texas Instruments, Florida Power Light

USA (1990) Most US early adopters of Hoshin Kanri began to regard theprocess as a competitive advantage

The most important milestone was in 1968, when The Bridgestone Tire Companypublished a report to analyze the planning techniques used by companies that had won theDeming Prize (including Toyota). These techniques were given the name Hoshin Kanri as amanagement system integrated with the Total Quality Control (TQC) methodology, laterTotal Quality Management (TQM) [1]. The companies that implemented the method havereceived many awards, but the Hoshin Kanri process has not yet gained general recognitionand popularity [14].

The first authentic document regarding Hoshin Kanri belongs to Yoki Akao, translatedinto English from the Japanese language in 1991. Experts at Toyota focused on creating fivemajor system alignments [9]:

1. Strategic alignment;2. Horizontal alignment;3. Vertical alignment;4. Process management alignment;

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 4 of 26

5. Employee development alignment.

These five alignments were invented, tested, and refined in managerial situations. Thefirst three present a continuous process with constant evaluation of key customer priorities.In the other two, great efforts must be made to achieve the company’s competitivenessthrough employee involvement [9].

The Hoshin Kanri process starts with senior management assigning strategic goalsto middle management, which gradually cascades to lower departments, implementationteams, and are evaluated from the bottom up. It is step-by-step planning with a changecontrol in place [15,16].

Achieving the desired results of the organization with Hoshin Kanri is possible throughemployees who understand the long-term direction and are involved in designing steps.The aim is to apply staff working directly in the process with a specific problem so thatthey can propose a potential solution [15]. The result is increased sophistication andspecification of performance plans at lower levels of the organization. This cascade modelworks on the PDCA cycle principle, representing a scientific approach to the control andcontinuous improvement of daily activities. Top management identifies the goals, whichinitiate the Hoshin Kanri cycle extended by unique components. The cycle begins witha Plan phase that moves to lower organizational levels as a set of annual hoshins. Theseare the goals for the lower level of the organization. The Do phase ensures that each levelimplements its plans through activities to realize the identified objectives in the Plan phase.Furthermore, the Check phase focuses on a set of planned periodic evaluations that measurethe progress of each hoshin target and identify a planning deficiency. Over time, it comesto the Act phase, in which the organization decides what worked well or should be changed.The organization will complete the cycle by analyzing the data and examining the steps forthe following year [12,15].

As is the most recurring, the most used model is the FAIR model developed by [17].FAIR is an acronym that relates to the PDCA cycle [3,8,18]:

1. Focus (Act)—involves selecting a few vital strategic priorities for the year. Prioritiesare innovative breakthrough changes required to accomplish the company’s medium-and long-term objectives. They represent the corporate strategic direction and arereferred to as “Hoshins”.

2. Alignment (Plan)—annual policies are developed and deployed vertically and hori-zontally throughout the company using the catchball mechanism.

3. Integration (Do)—the performance targets and action plans agreed upon by using thecatchball mechanism is integrated into the work routine, so the progress on targetsand plans are properly managed.

4. Review (Check)—the last step involves conducting an annual diagnosis by top managementto check how the company uses Hoshin Kanri. The annual diagnosis provides insightsthat fuel the selection of policies for the next annual cycle of the Hoshin Kanri process.

There is a strong relation between Hoshin Kanri and Balanced Scorecard (BSC) inits role as a strategic framework. Kaplan et al. [19] describe BSC in their book: “BSC isinitially introduced as a performance measurement system and draws the organization’sstrategic route by focusing on cause and effect relationships between strategic objectives.”The BSC was developed as a model that focused on transforming an organization’s visionand strategy into goals, actions, and objectives from four perspectives: financial, customer,internal business processes, and learning and growth. Since its publication, it has beenwidely used by academics and practitioners.

Cross-functional management is necessary for the successful implementation ofHoshin Kanri, along with a concept known as Catchball. The term catchball refers toan interactive process in which information and ideas are “thrown” and “caught” verticallyand horizontally throughout an organization. Catchball consists of discussions and feed-back about goals and the means to achieve them. During the process, goals can be changed,and different resources can be allocated to them [8,12,20–22].

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Catchball is a Western term, but for the Japanese, this process of negotiation andconsultation to reach an agreement is known as “Nemawashi”. Nemawashi is an aspectthat is present in a range of formal and informal habits in decision-making processes, whichprepare the “roots” for sharing and discussing ideas and making decisions. Returning tothe central principle of catchball, the action plan is to propose ideas. This proposition isthen passed on to the manager, who will check the proposition’s effectiveness. The mainactivities [3,8,11,15] in catchball methodology are:

1. Define horizontal catchball—during this activity, the manager responsible for thehigher-level performance plan gathers all managers with draft performance plans,evaluated in cross-functional consistency. Gaps, discrepancies, and other discrepan-cies are identified.

2. Define vertical catchball—once the cross-functional discrepancies are resolved, theperformance plan is reviewed and discussed with the manager responsible for thehigher-level performance plan. This ensures vertical consistency and the ability toprovide defined enhancements.

3. Define review and reporting process—includes the definition of a review and report-ing mechanism (who, whom, when, where, and what) during implementation.

Although this has not been mentioned much in the literature, practitioners considerthe X-Matrix the main tool in implementing the catchball mechanism [23]. An X-Matrixis a chart or diagram that makes a correlation matrix between targets and actions. TheX-Matrix and other formats of the correlation matrices use a cascading control process. Thisprocess is as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and has gradual strong, medium, andweak relationships between strategy and processes and goals and actions.

As the policies are integrated into management routines, they should be regularlymonitored, and inspections carried out systematically. After the Hoshin Kanri process in itsannual cycle, top management must make a diagnosis. This diagnosis is commonly referredto as a Top Executive Audit (TEA) [18]. During the TEA, top management members visitthe work areas and speak directly to employees. The idea is that co-workers at lower levelswill be allowed to reflect on how their daily actions affect the company’s strategy.

All organizations practice some form of Hoshin Kanri because they communicateabout goals and try to implement mechanisms to achieve them. If a company enhances itsstrategic capabilities, planning, and process management, Hoshin Kanri will bring benefits.It has three important components: the goal, the means to achieve the goal, and the metric,according to which the achieved goal/success is measured [12].

3. Methodology

According to PRISMA [24] international standards, a bibliometrics analysis and reviewwere conducted to answer our research questions. Our objective was to identify a set oforiginal empirical research articles/studies in the field of deployment of Hoshin Kanri.

In February 2022, data were collected from two main databases: Scopus by Elsevierand Web of Science (WoS) by Clarivate Analytics. These international databases were usedto find articles containing the search string/keyword “hoshin kanri” or “hoshin planning”(title-abstract-keywords).

The selection criteria were based on the PRISMA statement. The initial result setincluded journal articles (published or in press) only in English with the timespan set to“all years”. In all, 126 articles were found, out of which 71 were in the Scopus database and55 in the WoS database (without book chapter articles). Up to 40 duplicate articles wereremoved. Screening (abstract and title), during which inclusion/exclusion criteria wereapplied, started with 86 articles. Three researchers conducted this review using the samedescriptors and inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Each article had to meet the inclusion criteria and not match any exclusion criteriondefined in Table 2. Articles were included if they presented empirical research focused onHoshin Kanri and published in English. Studies/articles were excluded if they did notfocus on Hoshin Kanri as the main method or if they presented non-empirical or purely

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theoretical research. Literature reviews, book chapters, conference proceedings, books, orother types of publications except for journal articles were excluded.

Table 2. Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria

Hoshin Kanri context Not oriented on Hoshin KanriEnglish language Other language than English

Journal articles Literature reviews, book chapters, conferenceproceedings, books, or other types of publications

Empirical research Non-empirical, purely theoretical researchAbstract available Empty abstractFull text available Unavailable full text

The screening phase started with 86 articles. Nine articles were excluded because ofthe criteria. The full text of 15 articles could not be retrieved. The full texts of 62 articleswere assessed for eligibility. After that, 36 articles were excluded: 11 articles did not focuson Hoshin Kanri as the main or deployed method, and 25 articles were purely theoreticalwithout empirical research. The remaining 26 articles were included in this review. Figure 1shows the PRISMA flow diagram of this process.

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Figure 1. Flow diagram by Prisma 2020.

In the data extraction phase, 26 articles (Table A1) were selected for analysis to iden-tify the answers to the research questions. Data including bibliographic information, im-plementations (type, number of implemented companies/organizations), companies/or-ganizations (characteristics, location, top management, previous experiences with Hoshin Kanri), Hoshin Kanri process in case companies/organizations (key reason, tools, experi-ences) were collected.

4. Results 4.1. Bibliometric Analysis

This section presents a bibliometric overview of the selected articles. For this analysis R package Bibliometrix [25] was used. The dataset contained 26 articles from 22 journals published between 1996 and 2021 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Number of articles per year.

Figure 1. Flow diagram by Prisma 2020.

In the data extraction phase, 26 articles (Table A1) were selected for analysis toidentify the answers to the research questions. Data including bibliographic informa-tion, implementations (type, number of implemented companies/organizations), compa-nies/organizations (characteristics, location, top management, previous experiences with

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Hoshin Kanri), Hoshin Kanri process in case companies/organizations (key reason, tools,experiences) were collected.

4. Results4.1. Bibliometric Analysis

This section presents a bibliometric overview of the selected articles. For this analysisR package Bibliometrix [25] was used. The dataset contained 26 articles from 22 journalspublished between 1996 and 2021 (Figure 2).

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Figure 1. Flow diagram by Prisma 2020.

In the data extraction phase, 26 articles (Table A1) were selected for analysis to iden-tify the answers to the research questions. Data including bibliographic information, im-plementations (type, number of implemented companies/organizations), companies/or-ganizations (characteristics, location, top management, previous experiences with Hoshin Kanri), Hoshin Kanri process in case companies/organizations (key reason, tools, experi-ences) were collected.

4. Results 4.1. Bibliometric Analysis

This section presents a bibliometric overview of the selected articles. For this analysis R package Bibliometrix [25] was used. The dataset contained 26 articles from 22 journals published between 1996 and 2021 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Number of articles per year. Figure 2. Number of articles per year.

4.1.1. Which Journals Have Published the Hoshin Kanri Studies? (RQ1)

The selected articles were published in 22 journals. Table 3 presents a list of journals,with a number of articles, journal’s quartile, and SJR (SCImago Journal Rank, the year2020). The first 4 journals published two articles each, and the other 18 journals onlyone article each. Fourteen articles were published in Q1 journals, seven in Q2 journals,four in Q3 journals, and two in non-quartile journals. The best-rated journals are theJournal of Management Studies (one article), Long Range Planning (two articles), andInternational Journal of Project Management (one article). No journal has published sig-nificantly more articles in this research area.

4.1.2. Which Are the Most Cited Articles? Who Are the Most Productive Authors? (RQ2)

The selected articles had 408 citations and 1036 references. Figure 3 presents theaverage citations per year. Table 4 shows the top ten most cited articles. Out of 10 articles,all but 2 were published in high-ranking journals (8—Q1 journals, 2—Q2 journals). WitcherB. J., the first author of the most cited article [26], is also the most productive author(Figure 4). The second and the third place belong to his co-authors. This connection isconfirmed by the authors’ collaboration networks (Figure A1). Witcher B. J. and his articlesare also important in our co-citation analysis (Figures A2 and A3). It is confirmed that bothWitcher as an author and the published articles had a high citation rate. The author hasworked at Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, and wasmostly active in 1993–2012 (Scopus).

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Table 3. Journals.

Journal Number ofArticles

Quartile(SJR) 1

Long Range Planning 2 Q1 (3.85)Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 2 Q1 (1.29)Total Quality Management and Business Excellence 2 Q1 (0.73)TQM Journal 2 Q2 (0.54)Journal of Management Studies 1 Q1 (4.40)International Journal of Project Management 1 Q1 (2.76)International Journal of Operations and Production Management 1 Q1 (2.16)British Journal of Management 1 Q1 (2.41)Managing Service Quality: An International Journal 2 1 Q1 (1.17)Management Decision 1 Q1 (0.92)The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement 3 1 Q1 (0.84)Business Process Management Journal 1 Q1 (0.67)Benchmarking 1 Q2 (0.64)Team Performance Management 1 Q2 (0.43)Managerial Auditing Journal 1 Q2 (0.42)Measuring Business Excellence 1 Q2 (0.34)International Journal of Renewable Energy Research 1 Q3 (0.31)Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing 1 Q3 (0.21)Journal of International Education in Business 1 Q3 (0.25)Direccion y Organizacion 1 Q3 (0.18)Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 1 xSigma Journal of Engineering and Natural Sciences-SigmaMuhendislik ve Fen Bilimleri Dergisi 1 x

1 https://www.scimagojr.com (accessed on 12 April 2022). 2 Continued as Journal of Service Theory and Practice.3 Continued as The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.

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Figure 3. Average article citations per year.

Table 4. The most cited articles.

Rank Authors, Years Title Journal NC 1

1 Witcher B. J.,

Butterworth R., 2001 [26] Hoshin Kanri: Policy management in Japanese-

owned UK subsidiaries Journal of Management Stud-

ies (Q1) 56

2 Tennant C., Roberts P., 2001 [27]

Hoshin Kanri: Implementing the catchball process Long Range Planning (Q1) 49

3 Pun K. F., Chin K. S., Lau H., 2000 [28]

A QFD/hoshin approach for service quality de-ployment: A case study

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal (Q1) 47

4 Witcher B. J., Chau V. S., Harding P., 2008 [29]

Dynamic capabilities: Top executive audits and hoshin kanri at Nissan South Africa

International Journal of Oper-ations and Production Man-

agement (Q1) 37

5 Witcher B. J., Butterworth R., 1999 [30]

Hoshin Kanri: How Xerox manages Long Range Planning (Q1) 37

6 Asan Ş. S., Tanyaş M. 2007 [31]

Integrating Hoshin Kanri and the balanced score-card for strategic management: The case of higher

education

Total Quality Management and Business Excellence (Q1)

29

7 Tennant C., Roberts P., 2003 [32]

The creation and application of a self-assessment process for new product introduction

International Journal of Pro-ject Management (Q1)

23

8 Witcher B. J., Chau V. S.,

2012 [33]

Varieties of Capitalism and Strategic Manage-ment: Managing Performance in Multinationals

after the Global Financial Crisis

British Journal of Manage-ment (Q1) 21

9 Gonzalez M. E., 2019 [34] Improving customer satisfaction of a healthcare

facility: reading the customers’ needs Benchmarking (Q2) 19

10 Chau V. S., Witcher B. J., 2008 [35]

Dynamic capabilities for strategic team perfor-mance management: The case of Nissan

Team Performance Manage-ment (Q2)

17

1 Number of citations.

Figure 3. Average article citations per year.

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Table 4. The most cited articles.

Rank Authors, Years Title Journal NC 1

1 Witcher B. J.,Butterworth R., 2001 [26]

Hoshin Kanri: Policy management inJapanese-owned UK subsidiaries

Journal of ManagementStudies (Q1) 56

2 Tennant C., Roberts P.,2001 [27] Hoshin Kanri: Implementing the catchball process Long Range Planning (Q1) 49

3 Pun K. F., Chin K. S.,Lau H., 2000 [28]

A QFD/hoshin approach for service qualitydeployment: A case study

Managing Service Quality:An International Journal (Q1) 47

4 Witcher B. J., Chau V. S.,Harding P., 2008 [29]

Dynamic capabilities: Top executive audits andhoshin kanri at Nissan South Africa

International Journal ofOperations and Production

Management (Q1)37

5 Witcher B. J.,Butterworth R., 1999 [30] Hoshin Kanri: How Xerox manages Long Range Planning (Q1) 37

6 Asan S. S., Tanyas M.2007 [31]

Integrating Hoshin Kanri and the balancedscorecard for strategic management: The case of

higher education

Total Quality Managementand Business Excellence (Q1) 29

7 Tennant C., Roberts P.,2003 [32]

The creation and application of a self-assessmentprocess for new product introduction

International Journal ofProject Management (Q1) 23

8 Witcher B. J., Chau V. S.,2012 [33]

Varieties of Capitalism and Strategic Management:Managing Performance in Multinationals after the

Global Financial Crisis

British Journal ofManagement (Q1) 21

9 Gonzalez M. E., 2019 [34] Improving customer satisfaction of a healthcarefacility: reading the customers’ needs Benchmarking (Q2) 19

10 Chau V. S., Witcher B. J.,2008 [35]

Dynamic capabilities for strategic teamperformance management: The case of Nissan

Team PerformanceManagement (Q2) 17

1 Number of citations.

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Figure 4. Most productive authors.

4.1.3. What Are the Most Used Keywords? What Are the Relationships between Key-words? (RQ3)

The selected data contain 61 author’s keywords. Four articles did not have the au-thor’s keywords. After unifying different names of the same terms, 56 author’s keywords were obtained. The most frequently used keywords were “hoshin kanri” (f = 17), “strategic management” (f = 7), “quality function deployment” (f = 4), “balanced scorecard” (f = 3), “benchmarking” (f = 2), “competences” (f = 2), “implementation” (f = 2), “performance management” (f = 2), “policy deployment” (f = 2), “sme” (f = 2), “strategic planning” (f = 2), and “tqm” (f = 2). Figure 5 shows the author’s keywords’ word cloud.

Figure 5. Author’s keywords.

The author’s keywords co-occurrence analysis was used to find the relationship be-tween keywords. Figure 6 shows the author’s keyword co-occurrence network generated by Biblioshine for R Bibliometrix package [25]. Each node is one author’s keyword with a proportional size based on the strength of its co-occurrence; each edge represents the nodes’ co-occurrence connection. As it was expected, “Hoshin Kanri” was the most fre-quent keyword and had the strongest co-occurrence with “strategic management”, “qual-ity function deployment”, “balanced scorecard”, “policy deployment”, “TQM”, “compe-tences”, “implementation”, “sme”, “benchmarking”, “strategic planning”, “performance

Figure 4. Most productive authors.

4.1.3. What Are the Most Used Keywords? What Are the Relationships betweenKeywords? (RQ3)

The selected data contain 61 author’s keywords. Four articles did not have the author’skeywords. After unifying different names of the same terms, 56 author’s keywords wereobtained. The most frequently used keywords were “hoshin kanri” (f = 17), “strategicmanagement” (f = 7), “quality function deployment” (f = 4), “balanced scorecard” (f = 3),“benchmarking” (f = 2), “competences” (f = 2), “implementation” (f = 2), “performance

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management” (f = 2), “policy deployment” (f = 2), “sme” (f = 2), “strategic planning” (f = 2),and “tqm” (f = 2). Figure 5 shows the author’s keywords’ word cloud.

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Figure 4. Most productive authors.

4.1.3. What Are the Most Used Keywords? What Are the Relationships between Key-words? (RQ3)

The selected data contain 61 author’s keywords. Four articles did not have the au-thor’s keywords. After unifying different names of the same terms, 56 author’s keywords were obtained. The most frequently used keywords were “hoshin kanri” (f = 17), “strategic management” (f = 7), “quality function deployment” (f = 4), “balanced scorecard” (f = 3), “benchmarking” (f = 2), “competences” (f = 2), “implementation” (f = 2), “performance management” (f = 2), “policy deployment” (f = 2), “sme” (f = 2), “strategic planning” (f = 2), and “tqm” (f = 2). Figure 5 shows the author’s keywords’ word cloud.

Figure 5. Author’s keywords.

The author’s keywords co-occurrence analysis was used to find the relationship be-tween keywords. Figure 6 shows the author’s keyword co-occurrence network generated by Biblioshine for R Bibliometrix package [25]. Each node is one author’s keyword with a proportional size based on the strength of its co-occurrence; each edge represents the nodes’ co-occurrence connection. As it was expected, “Hoshin Kanri” was the most fre-quent keyword and had the strongest co-occurrence with “strategic management”, “qual-ity function deployment”, “balanced scorecard”, “policy deployment”, “TQM”, “compe-tences”, “implementation”, “sme”, “benchmarking”, “strategic planning”, “performance

Figure 5. Author’s keywords.

The author’s keywords co-occurrence analysis was used to find the relationship be-tween keywords. Figure 6 shows the author’s keyword co-occurrence network generatedby Biblioshine for R Bibliometrix package [25]. Each node is one author’s keyword with aproportional size based on the strength of its co-occurrence; each edge represents the nodes’co-occurrence connection. As it was expected, “Hoshin Kanri” was the most frequent key-word and had the strongest co-occurrence with “strategic management”, “quality functiondeployment”, “balanced scorecard”, “policy deployment”, “TQM”, “competences”, “im-plementation”, “sme”, “benchmarking”, “strategic planning”, “performance management”,“chief executives”, and “auditing”. Figure 6 shows that the two main clusters of HoshinKanri-related studies are “Hoshin Kanri” (green) and “Strategic management” (blue). Smallclusters (pink, red, light green, yellow, purple, grey, and brown) represent keywords with asingle connection between nodes.

4.2. Analysis of the Selected Articles

Companies and organizations that implemented Hoshin Kanri and the countries theyoperated in were extracted from all articles (Table A1). These companies were divided intofour basic groups (RQ5): large companies (Table 5), SMEs (Table 6), healthcare organizations(Table 7), and education organizations (Table 8). If several articles discussed the samecompany, they were merged. A total of 42 companies were identified in 26 studies (RQ4).These studies were further split into the following groups:

1. The first group included two studies (Table 5, white section). These research studiesbring analysis and comparison of management processes in several large companies.Chiarini [36] and Witcher and Butterworth [26] are integrated into this group.

2. The second group included eight studies (Table 5, light grey section). The commonelement of studies in this group shows that the implementation of Hoshin Kanriincorporates companies such as Nissan Motor Company, Land Rover, and Xerox.

3. The third group included seven studies about large companies (Table 5, grey section).4. The fourth group included three studies about SMS companies (Table 6).5. The fifth group included three studies of organizations from the healthcare area (Table 7).6. The sixth group included three studies concerning the implementation of Hoshin

Kanri at universities (Table 8).

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Table 5. Large companies (first group, second group, and third group).

Article Company Country

[36] (Chiarini, 2016)

• Industrial filters• Oil and gas• Oil and gas• General contractor• Food• Firearms• Engineering• Motorcycle components• Automotive components• Automotive components

ItalyGermanyItalyFranceItalyItalyFranceSpainItalyItaly

[26] (Witcher andButterworth, 2001)

• Supplier of pressed steel parts• Manufacturer of bearing• Manufacturer of car

components

UKUKUK

[33] (Witcher and Chau, 2012)[35] (Chau and Witcher, 2008)

• Automobile manufacturingcompany Nissan Motor Company

Japan

[29] (Witcher et al., 2008)[18] (Witcher et al., 2007)

• Automobile manufacturingcompany Nissan Motor Company

South Africa

[32] (Tennant and Roberts, 2003)[27] (Tennant and Roberts, 2001)

• Land Rover UK

[30] (Witcher and Butterworth, 1999) • Xerox UK

[37] (Villalba Díez and OrdieresMeré, 2016)

• Global equipment manufacturer Global company

[38] (Yang and Su, 2007) • Semiconductor Taiwan

[39] (Su and Yang, 2015) • High-tech manufacturing Taiwan

[28] (Pun et al., 2000) • The manufacturingengineering laboratory Hong Kong

[40] (Yazdi and Mennatib, 2011) • Porcelain factory Iran

[20] (Tortorella et al., 2019) • Auto partsmanufacturing company Mexico

[41] (Ozkavukcu andDurmusoglu, 2016)

• Food retail Turkey

[42] (Yakubiv et al., 2020) • Biofuel engineering development Ukraine

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management”, “chief executives”, and “auditing”. Figure 6 shows that the two main clus-ters of Hoshin Kanri-related studies are “Hoshin Kanri” (green) and “Strategic manage-ment” (blue). Small clusters (pink, red, light green, yellow, purple, grey, and brown) rep-resent keywords with a single connection between nodes.

Figure 6. Author’s keywords’ co-occurrence network.

4.2. Analysis of the Selected Articles Companies and organizations that implemented Hoshin Kanri and the countries they

operated in were extracted from all articles (Table A1). These companies were divided into four basic groups (RQ5): large companies (Table 5), SMEs (Table 6), healthcare organ-izations (Table 7), and education organizations (Table 8). If several articles discussed the same company, they were merged. A total of 42 companies were identified in 26 studies (RQ4). These studies were further split into the following groups: 1. The first group included two studies (Table 5, white section). These research studies

bring analysis and comparison of management processes in several large companies. Chiarini [36] and Witcher and Butterworth [26] are integrated into this group.

2. The second group included eight studies (Table 5, light grey section). The common element of studies in this group shows that the implementation of Hoshin Kanri in-corporates companies such as Nissan Motor Company, Land Rover, and Xerox.

3. The third group included seven studies about large companies (Table 5, grey section). 4. The fourth group included three studies about SMS companies (Table 6). 5. The fifth group included three studies of organizations from the healthcare area (Ta-

ble 7). 6. The sixth group included three studies concerning the implementation of Hoshin

Kanri at universities (Table 8).

Figure 6. Author’s keywords’ co-occurrence network.

Table 6. SMEs (fourth group).

Article Company Country

[14] (Löfving et al., 2021)[43] (Melander et al., 2016)

• Sawmill• Supplier to sport and activity centers• Manufacturer of entrances• Manufacturer of building components• Manufacturer of houses• Sub-supplier of sheet metal• Manufacturer of modular buildings

SwedenSwedenSwedenSwedenSwedenSwedenSweden

[44] (Tennant, 2007) • Metal UK

Table 7. Healthcare organizations (fifth group).

Article Company Country

[34] (Gonzalez, 2019) • Medical center USA

[45] (Simon and Houle, 2017) • Alberta Health Services Canada

[46] (Hyde and Vermillion, 1996) • Residential psychiatric center USA

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Table 8. Education organizations (sixth group).

Article Company Country

[47] (Gonzalez et al., 2019) • Four universities USA

[48] (Triana et al., 2015) • University Jose deCaldas Colombia

[31] (Asan and Tanyas, 2007) • One study program Turkey

4.2.1. The Case Companies/Organizations Location (RQ6, RQ7)

In the selected articles, 42 companies/organizations that deployed Hoshin Kanriwere identified (Education—6, Healthcare—3, SMEs—8, LE—25). In some studies, theauthors reported several implementations from different countries. The most companiespresented (Chiarini, 2016) were 10 companies from four EU countries (France, Germany,Italy, and Spain). Most companies were from Sweden (seven companies, two articles),the UK (six companies, five articles), the USA (six organizations, four articles), and Italy(six companies, one article). Figure 7 provides an overview of the implementing countries.Among the 25 large companies, 10 had Japanese management (RQ7).

The group of large companies could be further subdivided into companies operatingin Europe, Asia, and other countries such as Iran, Mexico, and Turkey. All companiesfrom the second subcategory had Japanese management and operated in Japan, Taiwan,Hong Kong, or South Africa (a branch of a Japanese company). The healthcare group wascomposed only of companies from the USA and Canada, and the SMEs group containedcompanies from Sweden (VINNOVA project) and the UK. The education group was morediverse; each implementation came from different countries.

No Hoshin Kanri implementation was found in our area, but in Europe, there areimplementations in Sweden (7—SME implementations), the UK (5—large companiesand 1—SMEs implementations), Italy (6—large companies implementations), Germany(1—large company implementation), Spain (1—large company implementation), France(1—large company implementation) and in Ukraine (1—large company implementation).While there are 23 implementations, they appear only in seven countries.

4.2.2. Studies of the First Group

The research analysis published in [36] compares whether the Hoshin Kanri canachieve the same results as BSC. The comparison obtained results of 10 companies fromfour European countries (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Hoshin Kanri was imple-mented for all the monitored companies over many years, and the relevant conclusionis that “Hoshin Kanri is a good alternative for managing and deploying corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) strategies. The flexibility and suitability of the managing strategieshave been confirmed.” Ten companies from this study implemented several strategic, en-vironmental, safety, health goals, and CSR goals in general. The main ones were a betterrelationship with employees, community, and unions, ensuring a better place to work,health, and safety at work. Then, being a green company, being more responsible for theenvironment, and improving supply chain sustainability.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 14 of 26Processes 2022, 10, 1854 14 of 26Processes 2022, 10, 1854 14 of 28

Figure 7. Implementing countries.

The group of large companies could be further subdivided into companies operating in Europe, Asia, and other countries such as Iran, Mexico, and Turkey. All companies from the second subcategory had Japanese management and operated in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or South Africa (a branch of a Japanese company). The healthcare group was composed only of companies from the USA and Canada, and the SMEs group contained companies from Sweden (VINNOVA project) and the UK. The education group was more diverse; each implementation came from different countries.

No Hoshin Kanri implementation was found in our area, but in Europe, there are implementations in Sweden (7—SME implementations), the UK (5—large companies and 1—SMEs implementations), Italy (6—large companies implementations), Germany (1—large company implementation), Spain (1—large company implementation), France (1—large company implementation) and in Ukraine (1—large company implementation). While there are 23 implementations, they appear only in seven countries.

4.2.2. Studies of the First Group The research analysis published in [36] compares whether the Hoshin Kanri can

achieve the same results as BSC. The comparison obtained results of 10 companies from four European countries (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Hoshin Kanri was imple-mented for all the monitored companies over many years, and the relevant conclusion is that “Hoshin Kanri is a good alternative for managing and deploying corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. The flexibility and suitability of the managing strategies

Figure 7. Implementing countries.

No Hoshin Kanri implementation was found in our area, but in Europe, there areimplementations in Sweden (7—SME implementations), the UK (5—large companiesand 1—SMEs implementations), Italy (6—large companies implementations), Germany(1—large company implementation), Spain (1—large company implementation), France(1—large company implementation) and in Ukraine (1—large company implementation).While there are 23 implementations, they appear only in seven countries.

4.2.2. Studies of the First Group

The research analysis published in [36] compares whether the Hoshin Kanri canachieve the same results as BSC. The comparison obtained results of 10 companies fromfour European countries (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Hoshin Kanri was imple-mented for all the monitored companies over many years, and the relevant conclusionis that “Hoshin Kanri is a good alternative for managing and deploying corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) strategies. The flexibility and suitability of the managing strategieshave been confirmed.” Ten companies from this study implemented several strategic, en-vironmental, safety, health goals, and CSR goals in general. The main ones were a betterrelationship with employees, community, and unions, ensuring a better place to work,health, and safety at work. Then, being a green company, being more responsible for theenvironment, and improving supply chain sustainability.

Figure 7. Implementing countries.

The case study [26] processes two years of research on three Japanese subsidiariesbased in the UK. The mentioned companies had a long-term implemented Hoshin Kanri.The main data collection tool was a pre-prepared series of 100 interviews in each of the casecompanies. The case study provides a unique point of view to research in this area with asophisticated theoretical framework and an extensive discussion of individual problems intheir companies with Hoshin Kanri. Hoshin Kanri overcomes the difficulties in compilinga list of goals and CSR goals in a particular group.

The first case company “had saved millions of pounds and had markedly improvedits supplier status: in 1997, it had been recognized as its main customer’s most improvedsupplier.” Nevertheless, they had a problem sustaining the Hoshin Kanri due to neglect ofreview meetings in the organization. The problems came with a change of general managerwhen the responsibility for Hoshin Kanri in the whole organization remained unclear.The second case company had formulated many goals, which represent a big problem forsustaining Hoshin Kanri. The main objectives of the Hoshin Kanri policy were determinedthrough a form of catchball called nemawashi. The organization’s annual policy remainedin force, but after the implementation of sent confusing signals to the workforce. In thethird case, there was a problem of sustaining the company’s state of transition from afunctionally based to a process-led organization.

The focus of Hoshin Kanri’s implementation for the studies of the first group was theQCDE targets: Quality (primarily customer issues), Cost (financials), Delivery (innovation,logistics), and Education (Employee issues). The main mission is to achieve the lowest costbase for manufacture, consistent with high quality and service levels. Senior managers

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agreed that Hoshin Kanri is so flexible container, where you can manage every kind ofstrategy. There is no limitation in terms of the number and typologies of strategies.

4.2.3. Studies of the Second Group

These companies have a sophisticated management strategy with implemented spe-cific elements and tools that are characteristic only of that company. The studies could bedivided into the following:

• The studies of the Nissan Motor Company [18,29,33,35].• The studies of Land Rover: [27,32].• The case study of Xerox: [30].• The case study of global equipment manufacturer: [37].

A common element for [18,29,33,35]. is the elaborate manner system TEAs, which“is defined as a detailed audit performed to obtain an overview of each activity that issupporting the company’s stated strategic goals and objectives” [35].

Chau and Witcher [33,35] discussed the Hoshin Kanri program in the Japanese branchof Nissan. TEAs are a common integral part of the FAIR strategy.

Study [29] referred that the outputs of the audits help to inform employees aboutstrategic goals.

With the arrival of a new manager in Nissan South Africa [18], Hoshin Kanri andthe concept of TEAs was implemented in its company: “TEAs are a very important andintegrative aspect of the holistic management of the organization. TEAs are also crucialto Hoshin Kanri and facilitate operational effectiveness.” Informal structured audits wererealized in every department in order to investigate the performance of the department.

In articles [27,32], they are developing a management process in the Rover Group.Article [32] focuses on the new product introduction process of the Freelander. The authorsindicate that the lead-time for the Freelander program demonstrated levels of performancethat were 19% faster than the European average and 6% faster than the Japanese average,compared to the results from the International Motor Vehicle Program.

The challenge for [27] is the effectiveness of the catchball process because the timerequired to complete it (across the nine key business processes involving 700 managersand lasting 12 months) is very demanding. Therefore, it is proposed to implement the newDelphi technique into the catchball process, which has become more efficient.

Witcher and Butterworth [30] contain six key points for implementing Hoshin Kanriin the company Xerox. The Blue Book specified Vital Few Programs. After the secondimplementation of the Hoshin Kanri reduced elements from 42 to 24, which clearly createda program for employment.

Villalba et al. [37] presented “Hoshin Kanri Tree”, which “can be understood as aKPI-driven (KPI- Key Performance Indicators), behavioral process management method”.The case of study is the use of Hoshin Kanri “to standardize communication among theprocess-responsible members at the Project management Offices”.

The fundamental conclusion of the study is that when implementing management strate-gies, sufficient time, discipline, commitment, and awareness of each team member are essential.

The main reason for implementing Hoshin Kanri in studies of this group is theirJapanese management.

4.2.4. Studies of the Third Group

The case studies [38,39] describe the EIDPER (Envision—Identify—Diagnose—Prioritize—Execute—Review) extension model for planning and implementation of Hoshin Kanri in thecompany, which does not have previous practical experience with Hoshin Kanri.

Executive management communicates its vision and mission and the defined “coreteam” implements this model in the case company. It is a study where the improvement ofthe planning process in human resource management is implemented. A common featureof both studies is the positive implementation of Hoshin Kanri in the case of companies.Su et al. [39] stated that “The results successfully reduce interview waste by 40% through

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ECRS (Elimination, Combination, Regrouping, and Simplification) analysis and apply anew concept to forecast an HR plan to smoothen recruitment plan execution.” The studydescribes a semiconductor manufacturing company based in Taiwan, whose number ofplants doubled, and thus the number of employees. It is a functional company with multiplelayers, resulting in complex communication during daily operations. The company adoptedformal strategic planning and issue-based planning, and therefore, redundant activitiesand wastes were duplicated in the limited resources, including manpower and capitalinvestment. Yang et al. [38] stated that “Labor productivity was improved by 6 percentover a two-year period.”

The case study [28] described implementing a 13-step guideline for the quality strategydevelopment at the organization Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory. The Hoshin Kanriwas thus employed to improve strategy deployment processes. It linked the strategic visionto daily operations and measured the improvement goals of the service organization.

A3 methodology was used to integrate decision variability into the Hoshin Kanriprocess [20]. A better coordination of strategies and initiatives is needed across the company.This approach “allows visual, logical, continual and easy-to-track verification of targetsand means throughout its implementation timescale”.

The article [41] contains a design framework for Hoshin Kanri for retail food organiza-tion. The paper describes in detail the first stage, and the following stages are shown inthe project plan. In an Industry 4.0 world, organization has to pay attention to increasingcustomer expectations and has to focus on customer experience.

Yakubiv et al. [42] offer an innovative approach for the development of biofuel engi-neering based on Hoshin Kanri. The authors built a “forecast of change development paceof biofuel production in Ukraine up to 2025”. It is the only study that implements HoshinKanri in the agriculture sector for the country. This approach addresses economic, political,social, and technological factors.

Yazdi and Mennatib [40] combined using strategic planning, BSC, QFD, and HoshinKanri for organizational planning and company development. Hoshin Kanri served toeliminate weaknesses and set goals focused on creating an excellent company.

The main reason for the introduction of Hoshin Kanri [39] is business fluctuation,which affects the HR plan, leading to manpower shortage or overflow; thus, the companyspends considerable time attempting to fulfill the hiring gap or handling the redundantmanpower. Streamlining human resource processes with the EIDPER model will createorganizational value and consider potential applications to improve service shortages, train-ing efficiency, or cost reduction. The introduction of Hoshin Kanri [38] was due to changesin the workload of employees in order to maintain satisfactory customer requirements forproduct quality or reliable delivery times, and to improve operational efficiency.

The reason for the introduction of Hoshin Kanri in study [28] was to improve the currentprovision of laboratory services, enhance users’ satisfaction, and more importantly, developstrategies and deploy tactics and plans for continuous improvement of service quality.

The aim of article [40] was to design a plan for managers to identify the internal andexternal environment and show a timely response.

Primary strategic targets in [42] for the implementation of Hoshin Kanri were the im-provement of the economic and law mechanism of the state policy for the development ofbiofuel engineering, the increase in the volumes of attracting domestic and foreign investments,and the implementation of innovative biofuel engineering technologies in industry.

The main goal in article [42] was to be a leader in improving quality with a businessstructure that is as innovative and productive as it is customer-focused, trustworthy, andrespectful to people, the community, and the environment.

In studies [28,38,39], the reason for the introduction of Hoshin Kanri is that the com-panies are located in Taiwan and have Japanese management. The second reason is tomaintain market leadership in terms of growth and operating profitability, and generatelong-term satisfactory returns for employees, business partners, and shareholders.

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4.2.5. Studies of the Fourth Group

Papers [14] and [43] are reports of a research project financed by The Swedish Govern-mental Agency of Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) between 2013 and 2016. The projectcomprises 14 companies and a team of five researchers (coaches). Paper [14] describes theknowledge of the implementation of Hoshin Kanri in five small manufacturing companiesand paper [43] in four companies; two companies in these studies are the same. Theirconclusions are based on the characteristics of the companies.

Löfving et al. [14] showed that only one company improved financially and furtherdeveloped the Hoshin Kanri management system. In the second case, the company’sefforts to continue Hoshin Kanri implementation are still ongoing, and one company’simplementation effort were over. Two companies ended their participation prematurely inthe research project due to the non-involvement of their management team.

Melander et al. [43] offered review activities in four case companies. It summarizedeleven learning points within the learning process and a revised model of the Hoshin Kanriimplementation in this type of company.

The main goal of the case company [44] was to transform its organizational culture toachieve business results through quality improvement. The defined goal was only achievedafter Hoshin Kanri led to significant improvements in business performance. Tennant [44]stated that “Specific business improvement results achieved (as reported in the BirminghamPost, UK) include tripling the turnover to £3 million, an increase in pricing of 61 percent, a38 percent reduction in rework levels, and customer rejections have reduced from 35,000 kgto 5000 kg per month. Sales exports have increased by 19 to 86 percent of turnover, and thecompany expects to significantly increase profitability over three years”.

4.2.6. Studies of the Fifth Group

The methodology of the case study by Gonzalez [34] led to an action-based approach.The goal was to identify, understand, and incorporate customer expectations and waysto meet them in a Medical Center in the USA. The ability to respond effectively in areasthat customers consider strategic is expected to increase. Using a questionnaire, customerexpectations were gathered and were reduced from a total of 183 to 46. Subsequently,the main 23 requirements were identified using affinity and interrelationship diagrams.This was the basis for the first planning matrix of the house of quality. For comparison,the information available from two other hospitals in the region was used, where thesales points that prevailed in competitiveness were identified. The interdisciplinary teamidentified how to meet these requirements and divided them into three groups. The resultsthat should improve the market position, found from the Hoshin Kanri planning process,are identification cards for patients, electronic sharing of health records with other hospitals,assistance with financing services for patients, and improved center logistics. Further, theemployment of professionals who help to increase efficiency, reduce waiting time, and havea trouble-free registration process.

In Simon and Houle [45], Cardiac Sciences describes the demand for increased qualityand consolidation of the market’s position. In the Cardiac Sciences program, the leadershiphad the foresight to understand the impact of quality and improvement in healthcareand realized that traditional approaches would not lead to the systemic and culturalchanges required to transform health care. They focused on the solution using the HoshinKanri methodology, PDCA cycle, and an eight-step problem-solving method to ease thesteps from patient admission to effective clinical patient care. The implementation wasdivided into three phases within a specified time horizon. The improvement programintroduced cascading key performance indicators visible in all program areas. During theimplementation, the sub-objectives were met, and improved results were recorded (thewaiting time for urgent interventions was reduced from 7 to 3 days). In addition, staff wasformally trained in problem solving, and 100% of the leadership and management weretrained as coaches.

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Hyde and Vermillion [46] implemented a continuous quality improvement programat a residential psychiatric center in the United States. In the first phase, the managementteam identified 70 and, using the affinity diagram, selected 15 critical care functions andsurveyed customers to determine the most critical and most minor satisfactory functions. Inthe second phase, the management team decided to concentrate on the top eight functionsbased on the rankings. In the third phase, based on the interrelationship diagram, the threemost important areas for improvement were defined: admissions, customer investment,and safety. In the fourth phase, meetings between departments were held through catchall,and improvements and control times were proposed through brainstorming. In the fifthphase, teams were recommended to work on implementing improvements. In the sixthphase, the management team checked the improvement progress at monthly and semi-annual intervals. After a year of implementation, there was a reduction in the admissionprocess time up to 48 h. Additionally, staff, customers, and their families expressedsatisfaction with the treatment planning process. The staff indicated that safety provided asafer working environment.

The study of the fifth group offered a perfect overview of the mentioned problem ofindividual healthcare organizations that need to implement the Hoshin Kanri methodologyand the results. Each study focused on the voice of the patient, which is a key member ofthe service chain.

4.2.7. Studies of the Sixth Group

The study [47] aimed to identify the main factors students consider when choosinga study program, integrate quality functions, benchmarking, and Hoshin Kanri into theanalysis of students’ expectations, and examined the implications for research and practice.The motivation for this study was the realization that the opportunity to study abroadhelps students to gain experience and knowledge and thus shifts the management of thehost university to become a leader in offering quality study. Information for the studywas obtained from 180 students from four US universities which participate in the studyabroad program. Using affinity diagrams, only 17 significant student expectations (voicesof students) were singled out, which are the input of the planning matrix of the house ofquality. Experienced faculty members performed benchmarking. They designed a strategicmap of Hoshin Kanri to set goals and steps to build a study program abroad that meetsstudents’ expectations. The motivation was that the number of Americans studying abroadwas low (almost 90% of all American university students who graduate never completedan international program; this is a sign that something is not working). The three mostimportant student requirements found are program cost, cost of living, additional activities,and learning other languages.

In article [48], there is a strategic plan at the university, but it does not provide suf-ficient goals. Therefore, there was an effort to implement Hoshin Kanri using Deming’sPDCA principle. The Hoshin planning system was designed in a series of stages. It beganwith an analysis of the external and internal environment; then, top management created aset of goals, strategies, and monitoring. The first step in implementation was to present aset of objectives among the 16 participating committees of the university. Then, permanentmonitoring was carried out through regular meetings. Finally, an evaluation of the objec-tives and plan was conducted each year. The defined planning system provided elementsto facilitate and formulate the strategy through the Hoshin Kanri methodology into thecurrent strategic plan. However, the implementation of the Hoshin Kanri methodology, inthis case, can have a significant obstacle: the organizational culture. This is due to apathyand fear of change.

Article [31] discusses an educational program that has been in operation since 2000,and the number of applicants (industrial engineers directly from practice) is still the same.Therefore, the executive committee decided to change strategic management with a com-bination of a performance-oriented BSC and a process-oriented Hoshin Kanri. In thebeginning, the strategy was selected using SWOT analysis and integrated into strategy

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maps. The strategies were then fitted into implementation plans assessed by Hoshin Kanri,and the results were evaluated using both tools. Each plan goal, the means for its achieve-ment, the measures for improvement, and the owners were determined. Two levels ofHoshin Kanri were generated for this case. At the end of the annual cycle, the overallperformance was evaluated using the BSC, revealing gaps between the target, and achievedvalues, thus creating a fundamental input for the next cycle. As a result, there have been de-mands for measures in promotion, academic activities, and investment activities to developand maintain the quality of education. By implementing the long-term implementationplans, the Eng-Man program is likely to achieve its vision of “being an internationally rec-ognized engineering management program and a pioneer in Turkey.” Merging the HoshinKanri and BSC, the results become not only performance- but also process-driven.

These studies of the sixth group were described in detail by identifying why theyneeded to implement the Hoshin Kanri methodology through the individual steps andusing additional tools to the results after implementation. The motivation for implementingstrategic planning with the help of Hoshin Kanri was mainly to improve the market positionwithin the universities in the region or improve the attractiveness of the study program.

5. Discussion

The first section of the review focused on bibliometric analysis. The selected 26 articleswere published in 22 journals between 1996 and 2021. The most cited article is “HoshinKanri: Policy management in Japanese-owned UK subsidiaries” by Witcher and Butter-worth. Witcher B. J. is also the most productive author and his articles are also importantin co-citation analysis. He has participated in interesting implementations of the HoshinKanri in companies such as Nissan Motor and Xerox.

The authors’ keywords’ co-occurrence network confirmed what was expected, thatHoshin Kanri was the most frequent keyword and had the strongest co-occurrence alongwith “strategic management” and “quality function deployment”. The keywords containedall important terms and tools from the research area of Hoshin Kanri.

The second section focused on the analysis of the selected articles. Exactly 42 companieswere identified in 26 articles.

The main objective contribution of this review is to provide an overview and groupthe implementation studies. The positive part is that the Hoshin Kanri methodology hasbeen implemented in various companies. These are mainly large corporate companies,such as Nissan, Land Rover, Xerox, and global equipment manufacturers, operating inEurope, Asia, and other countries, such as Iran, Mexico, and Turkey. Most of the largecompanies had Japanese management and operated in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, orSouth Africa. Smaller companies from Sweden and the UK were also assessed. A differentimplementation area was the healthcare sector in the USA and Canada and the educationsector in the USA, Colombia, and Turkey.

Most companies did not have previous experience in implementing the Hoshin Kanrimethodology, except for companies with Japanese management in branches or organizationsheadquartered in Japan. The large enterprises were introduced to Hoshin Kanri either byresearch teams [26,28,33,35,40], project teams [27,32,41], or by core teams [20,26,36,38,39,42].In SMEs, Hoshin Kanri was implemented by research or project teams [14,43]. In the field ofhealthcare, it was introduced by an interdisciplinary team [34], and management was trainedwith an advisor for the implementation of Hoshin Kanri [45]. In the education field, it is notclear who implemented Hoshin Kanri.

Based on the used quality tools and experiences of Hoshin Kanri implementation, theHoshin Kanri process can be summarized (Figure 8). One of the results of this review isthat it provides a summarized seven-step process.

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Figure 8. Hoshin Kanri process.

In the first step of the Hoshin Kanri cycle, an organizational vision was created in each study, considering the current situation and politics. The second step was the elabo-ration of breakthrough objectives, which are the improvements required by the compa-nies/organizations. The third step is to draw up annual plans. The fourth step is deploying annual plans, and their transformation into breakthrough and realizable goals. The fifth step is the implementation of annual goals and control using QFD. The sixth step is to review the program after its completion, evaluate the corrective targets for the next year, and compare them with the set targets. An annual evaluation is carried out in the seventh step after each important one, which shows how the organization has shifted or lagged the objectives.

It can be concluded that implementation in large companies had been successful and improved over the years through 5-year cycles. The most serious issues with implement-ing Hoshin Kanri had SMEs participating in the INNOVA project. The healthcare area was very successful in the implementations of Hoshin Kanri due to having permanent employees overseeing the entire process. In education organizations, it was difficult to introduce Hoshin Kanri because of the shorter student life cycle.

6. Conclusions This review described the Hoshin Kanri process (policy management), which has

been known mainly in Japanese companies since 1960. Hoshin Kanri is concerned with integrating top management goals into daily work.

Our goal was to find real-world implementations of the Hoshin Kanri method and their results by systematically reviewing articles from two of the most important data-bases.

This review brought a brief theoretical basis for methodology and an overview of all published implementations in various sectors. It could be assumed that the Hoshin Kanri is a process control of corporations and large companies whose top management came

Figure 8. Hoshin Kanri process.

In the first step of the Hoshin Kanri cycle, an organizational vision was createdin each study, considering the current situation and politics. The second step was theelaboration of breakthrough objectives, which are the improvements required by thecompanies/organizations. The third step is to draw up annual plans. The fourth stepis deploying annual plans, and their transformation into breakthrough and realizable goals.The fifth step is the implementation of annual goals and control using QFD. The sixth stepis to review the program after its completion, evaluate the corrective targets for the nextyear, and compare them with the set targets. An annual evaluation is carried out in theseventh step after each important one, which shows how the organization has shifted orlagged the objectives.

It can be concluded that implementation in large companies had been successful andimproved over the years through 5-year cycles. The most serious issues with implementingHoshin Kanri had SMEs participating in the INNOVA project. The healthcare area was verysuccessful in the implementations of Hoshin Kanri due to having permanent employeesoverseeing the entire process. In education organizations, it was difficult to introduceHoshin Kanri because of the shorter student life cycle.

6. Conclusions

This review described the Hoshin Kanri process (policy management), which hasbeen known mainly in Japanese companies since 1960. Hoshin Kanri is concerned withintegrating top management goals into daily work.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 21 of 26

Our goal was to find real-world implementations of the Hoshin Kanri method andtheir results by systematically reviewing articles from two of the most important databases.

This review brought a brief theoretical basis for methodology and an overview of allpublished implementations in various sectors. It could be assumed that the Hoshin Kanriis a process control of corporations and large companies whose top management camefrom Japan. Additionally, it is an approach to managing mainly manufacturing companiesor IT organizations. However, this review provided information about successful HoshinKanri implementations in the other sectors, such as healthcare, education, and even SMEs.

It can be said that it is the best evidence broader applicability of the methodology. Thefound articles presented mainly the successful implementation of Hoshin Kanri to improvethe market position and become a leader. Other reasons are to achieve the company goalsand to overall multiple increases in the annual turnover of the company.

Since these findings from implementation were published in scientific articles, the aca-demic team also participated or co-participated in the performance of Hoshin Kanri in thecompany, as evidenced by how the results were presented. Another important conclusionis that the company does not implement all strategic management processes (seven steps)and combines various quality tools to achieve the set goals effectively (Figure 8).

As was mentioned, Hoshin Kanri is a process of deploying the goals and initiatives oftop-level corporate management down to the lowest levels of the corporate hierarchy. Itspurpose is to manage and control company processes to achieve significant performanceimprovements. Based on conclusions from publishing research, the Hoshin Kanri implemen-tation has specific rules and a longer time horizon until the expected results are obtained.

This management dominates in multinational corporates company; this is the reasonfor its fundamental principles also reaching our region and thus our conditions (for example,Siemens Electronics and its branches).

This review was limited to journal articles published in the English language andindexed in two main databases. These databases were chosen because journals included inthe Scopus and WoS must meet strict standards. Articles published in such journals are ofhigh quality, have a certain scope, and go through a rigorous review process. While theauthors typically work in academia and not in the industry, it is usually them who helpcompanies to introduce new procedures, methodologies, frameworks, etc.

A limitations of this review is mainly that, despite the sophistication of the studies andthe auxiliary tools, the results presented were not very visible. The process of Hoshin Kanriimplementation can often be subjective, as it depends on the team working on it, whetherinternal or external. Another limitation is that companies do not publish all companypractices and know-how details because of internal policies.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; methodology, M.P., A.M. and J.P.;software, A.M.; validation, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; formal analysis, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; investigation,M.P., A.M. and J.P.; resources, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; data curation, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; writing—originaldraft preparation, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; writing—review and editing, M.P., A.M. and J.P.; visualization,A.M; supervision, M.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding: This research was funded by the Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA) under grantNo. VEGA 1/0365/19, the Cultural and Educational Grant Agency MŠVVaŠ SR (KEGA) undergrant No. 040TUKE- 4/2021, and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under grantNo. APVV-18-0526.

Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 22 of 26

Appendix A

Table A1. Selected articles.

ID Authors Title Year Source Title Reference

1 Hyde R.S., Vermillion J.M. Driving quality through Hoshin planning. 1996 The Joint Commission journalon quality improvement [46]

2 Witcher B. J., Butterworth R. Hoshin Kanri: How Xerox manages 1999 Long Range Planning [30]

3 Pun K.F., Chin K.S., Lau H. A QFD/hoshin approach for service qualitydeployment: A case study 2000 Managing Service Quality: An

International Journal [28]

4 Tennant C., Roberts P. Hoshin Kanri: Implementing the catchball process 2001 Long Range Planning [27]

5 Witcher B.J., Butterworth R. Hoshin Kanri: Policy management inJapanese-owned UK subsidiaries 2001 Journal of Management Studies [26]

6 Tennant C., Roberts P. The creation and application of a self-assesmentprocess for new product introduction 2003 International Journal of

Project Management [32]

7 Tennant C. Measuring business transformation at a smallmanufacturing enterprise in the UK 2007 Measuring Business Excellence [44]

8 Asan S.S., Tanyas M.Integrating Hoshin Kanri and the balanced

scorecard for strategic management: The caseof higher education

2007 Total Quality Management andBusiness Excellence [31]

9 Yang T., Su C.Application of hoshin kanri for productivity

improvement in a semiconductormanufacturing company

2007 Journal of ManufacturingTechnology Management [38]

10 Witcher B.J., Chau V.S.,Harding P.

Top executive audits: Strategic reviews ofoperational activities 2007 Managerial Auditing Journal [18]

11 Chau V.S., Witcher B.J. Dynamic capabilities for strategic teamperformance management: The case of Nissan 2008 Team Performance

Management [35]

12 Witcher B.J., Chau V.S.,Harding P.

Dynamic capabilities: Top executive auditsand Hoshin Kanri at Nissan South Africa 2008

International Journal ofOperations and

Production Management[29]

13 Yazdi A.K., Mennatib B. House of excellence: Better BSC practicethrough QFD Plus Hoshin Kanri 2011 Australian Journal of Basic and

Applied Sciences [40]

14 Witcher, B.J., Chau, V.S.Varieties of Capitalism and Strategic

Management: Managing Performance inMultinationals after the Global Financial Crisis

2012 British Journal of Management [33]

15 Su C.-T., Yang T.-M. Hoshin Kanri planning process in human resourcemanagement: recruitment in a high-tech firm 2015 Total Quality Management and

Business Excellence [39]

16 Triana J.A., Rodríguez J.I.,Palacios J.I.O.

Management model for planning articulation atUniversidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas 2015 Lecture Notes in Business

Information Processing [48]

17 Villalba Díez J., OrdieresMeré J.

Improving the management of projectsthrough Hoshin Kanri 2016 Direccion y Organizacion [37]

18 Chiarini A.Corporate social responsibility strategies using

the TQM: Hoshin Kanri as an alternativesystem to the balanced scorecard

2016 TQM Journal [36]

19Melander A., Löfving M.,

Andersson D., Elgh F.,Thulin M.

Introducing the Hoshin Kanri strategicmanagement system in manufacturing SMEs 2016 Management Decision [43]

20 Ozkavukcu A.,Durmusoglu M.B.

Product development by Hoshin Kanriapproach: An application in the retail sector 2016

Sigma Journal of Engineeringand Natural Sciences-Sigma

Muhendislik ve FenBilimleri Dergisi

[41]

21 Simon J., Houle M. Translating improvement methodology intohealthcare culture 2017 Business Process

Management Journal [45]

22 Gonzalez M.E.Improving customer satisfaction of a

healthcare facility: reading thecustomers’ needs

2019 Benchmarking [34]

23Tortorella G.,

Cauchick-Miguel P.A.,Gaiardelli P.

Hoshin Kanri and A3: a proposal forintegrating variability into the policy

deployment process2019 TQM Journal [20]

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 23 of 26

Table A1. Cont.

ID Authors Title Year Source Title Reference

24Gonzalez M.E.,

Quesada G., Martinez J.L.,Gonzalez-Cordoba S.

Global education: using lean tools toexplore new opportunities 2019 Journal of International

Education in Business [47]

25

Yakubiv V.,Boryshkevych I.,

Piatnychuk I.,Iwaszczuk N.,Iwaszczuk A.

Strategy for the development of bioenergybased on agriculture: Case for Ukraine 2020 International Journal of

Renewable Energy Research [42]

26Löfving M.,

Melander A., Elgh F.,Andersson D.

Implementing Hoshin Kanri in smallmanufacturing companies 2021 Journal of Manufacturing

Technology Management [14]

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 25 of 28

Figure A1. Authors’ collaborative network.

Figure A2. Authors’ co-citation networks.

Figure A1. Authors’ collaborative network.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 24 of 26

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 25 of 28

Figure A1. Authors’ collaborative network.

Figure A2. Authors’ co-citation networks. Figure A2. Authors’ co-citation networks.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 26 of 28

Figure A3. Papers’ co-citation networks.

References 1. Akao, Y. Hoshin Kanri (c): Policy Deployment for Succesful TQM; Taylor & Francis: Abingdon, UK, 1991. 2. Tennant, C.; Roberts, P.A. Hoshin Kanri: A Technique for Strategic Quality Management. Qual. Assur. 2000, 8, 77–90.

https://doi.org/10.1080/105294100317173862. 3. Plackal, D.; Kumar, S.; Gupta, P. Exploring the Issues in Policy Deployment Using SAP-LAP and EIRP Approaches: An Empir-

ical Case Study. Int. J. Math. Eng. Manag. Sci. 2021, 6, 1361–1380. https://doi.org/10.33889/IJMEMS.2021.6.5.082. 4. Jolayemi, J.K. Hoshin Kanri and Hoshin Process: A Review and Literature Survey. Total Qual. Manag. Bus. Excell. 2008, 19, 295–

320. https://doi.org/10.1080/14783360701601868. 5. Soltero, C. Hoshin Kanri for Improved Environmental Performance. Environ. Qual. Manag. 2007, 16, 35–54.

https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.20140. 6. Witcher, B.J. Hoshin Kanri: A Study of Practice in the UK. Manag. Audit. J. 2002, 17, 390–396.

https://doi.org/10.1108/02686900210437499. 7. Dias, R.; Tenera, A. Integrating Balanced Scorecard and Hoshin Kanri a Review of Approaches. Indep. J. Manag. Prod. 2020, 11,

2899–2924. https://doi.org/10.14807/ijmp.v11i7.1137. 8. Da Silveira, W.G.; de Lima, E.P.; Gouvea da Costa, S.E.; Deschamps, F. Guidelines for Hoshin Kanri Implementation: Develop-

ment and Discussion. Prod. Plan. Control 2017, 28, 843–859. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2017.1325020. 9. Mothersell, W.M.; Moore, M.L.; Reinerth, M.W. Hoshin Kanri Planning: The System of Five Alignments behind the Toyota

Production System. Int. J. Bus. Innov. Res. 2008, 2, 381–401. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBIR.2008.018587. 10. Cowley, M.; Domb, E. Beyond Strategic Vision: Effective Corporate Action with Hoshin Planning; Business Management/Butter-

worth-Heinemann; Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford, UK, 1997. 11. Tennant, C.; Roberts, P. Managing Knowledge through Hoshin Kanri. Ind. High. Edu. 2003, 17, 59–66.

https://doi.org/10.5367/000000003101296684. 12. Thurer, M.; Maschek, T.; Fredendall, L.; Gianiodis, P.; Stevenson, M.; Deuse, J. On the Integration of Manufacturing Strategy:

Deconstructing Hoshin Kanri. Manag. Res. Rev. 2019, 42, 412–426. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-04-2018-0178. 13. Da Silveira, W.G.; de Lima, E.P.; Deschamps, F.; Gouvea da Costa, S.E. Identification of Guidelines for Hoshin Kanri Initiatives.

Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manag. 2018, 67, 85–110. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-03-2016-0071. 14. Löfving, M.; Melander, A.; Elgh, F.; Andersson, D. Implementing Hoshin Kanri in Small Manufacturing Companies. J. Manuf.

Technol. Manag. 2021, 32, 304–322. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-08-2020-0313.

Figure A3. Papers’ co-citation networks.

Processes 2022, 10, 1854 25 of 26

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11, 2899–2924. [CrossRef]8. Da Silveira, W.G.; de Lima, E.P.; Gouvea da Costa, S.E.; Deschamps, F. Guidelines for Hoshin Kanri Implementation: Development

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